Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs). The present disclosure further relates to processing of materials suitable for use in LED containing structures.
Description of the Related Art
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are well-known semiconductor devices that convert electrical current into light. The color (wavelength) of the light that is emitted by an LED depends on the semiconductor material that is used to fabricate the LED. This is because the wavelength of the emitted light depends on the semiconductor material's band-gap, which represents the energy difference between the material's valence band and conduction band electrons. Gallium-Nitride (GaN) has gained much attention from LED researchers. One reason for this is that GaN can be combined with indium to produce InGaN/GaN semiconductor layers that emit red, green, blue, and white light. This wavelength control ability enables an LED semiconductor designer to tailor material characteristics to achieve beneficial device characteristics. For example, GaN enables an LED semiconductor designer to produce blue LEDs, which are beneficial in optical recordings, and white LEDs, which can replace incandescent and halogen lamps. Despite the rapid development of GaN device technology, GaN devices can be too expensive for many applications. One reason for the high cost of manufacturing GaN-based devices is the difficulties of growing GaN epitaxial layers and of subsequently dicing out completed GaN-based devices. GaN-based devices are typically fabricated on sapphire substrates. Sapphire is an expensive material that increases the cost of LED manufacture.